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Community Partnerships: A Key Ingredient in an Effective Homeland Security Approach

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 brought about enhancements to many
existing law enforcement approaches in an effort to prevent another attack.
As we learn more about the threats we face, and our ability to repel those threats,
it is increasingly evident that the benefits of community policing demand that
it become fundamental to any effective homeland security strategy.

Community policing comprises three primary elements, two of which
are problem-solving to reduce crime and disorder by addressing their
immediate underlying conditions, and implementing associated organizational
changes to help ensure that the community policing philosophy can be successfully
implemented, sustained, and institutionalized. It is the third
element—partnerships—that perhaps best positions law enforcement
to protect communities from the threat of terrorism. By engaging
important and relevant stakeholders in the community who have tremendous
knowledge, resources, and a capacity to collaborate on issues of shared
concern, law enforcement can improve responses to problems, reduce citizen
fear and concern, and increase the overall satisfaction with police services.

The Value of Partnerships to Homeland Security

Partnerships with the community are integral to any crime-prevention
effort and, in many respects, terrorism can be understood and addressed in
terms of other crime threats. Just as state and local law enforcement entities
serve as partners with their federal counterparts and “are now a critical
component of our Nation’s security capability as both ‘first preventers’
and ‘first responders’”1, so too, do law enforcement partnerships with the
community hold tremendous potential for thwarting acts of terrorism.
Partnerships help to create trust and improve lines of communication
between the police and the community.

Under a community policing approach, the community can become eyes and ears
for the police, reporting suspicious behavior and notifying the authorities when
something seems amiss. Just as street-level knowledge is important to breaking
up narcotics activities in a neighborhood, community partnerships and trusting
relationships will inspire the confidence of citizens to pass along information
that can help to uncover terrorist individuals or cells. Both here and abroad,
those who have first-hand experience preventing terrorism incidents
enthusiastically promote the importance of community partnerships to defeat terrorism.
“It is not the police and the intelligence services who will defeat terrorism,”
according to Sir Ian Blair, the commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police Service.
“It is communities who defeat terrorism.2” Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey
testified to Congress that “only an effective local police establishment that
has the confidence of citizens is going to be likely to hear from, say, a local
merchant in a part of town containing a number of new immigrants that a group of
young men from abroad have recently moved into a nearby apartment and are acting
suspiciously. Local police are best equipped to understand how to protect
citizens’ liberties and obtain such leads legally.3”

Examples of the value of strong community partnerships have been
widely reported. In London, England, a strong, strange odor drifting
from a flat and the strange group of visitors to the premises caused
a London grandmother to report this activity to authorities, which helped
to unravel a terror cell planning a poison gas attack. And in New York City,
a resident who worked at an Islamic bookstore located next to one of the
city’s largest mosques so concerned local residents with his inflammatory
anti-American rhetoric that the New York City Police Department tip line
received a number of calls about his behavior. A subsequent investigation
revealed plans to attack the Herald Square subway station around the time
of the 2004 Republican National Convention.4

Partnerships with Immigrant Communities

While most police agencies have established many valuable community
partnerships, they may be with specific segments of the community who are
accustomed to working with law enforcement. Other communities, however,
may not have experience cooperating with police authorities.
Some may be reticent to cooperate given their cultural experiences of,
and history with, police in their country of origin. Other factors may
lead to their hesitation to work with the police, including language
barriers, immigration status, and a general mistrust of their local
police because of misperception and reputation. Yet these groups may
be just the ones who are in the best position to provide information that
could lead to the prevention of a terror attack because they often possess
information that is unknown outside of what are often insular communities;
information that could relate to impending threats before that information
would come to the attention of others. To develop and maintain these open
lines of communication, diligent, determined, and ongoing efforts are
required by all sides. An understanding of, and sensitivity to, different
religious and cultural values on the part of the police is also essential.

One final note relates to information gathering by law enforcement
and the privacy concerns it raises among some in the community.
It is important that law enforcement, especially at the local level,
understand these concerns as legitimate even as they work to allay them.
Being clear about the safeguards and oversight that exist to protect
individual rights and liberties, and acting in a deliberate and transparent
way about how and why information is gathered and used, can demonstrate
that these are both effective and lawful police activities. Moreover,
conveying that these activities actually support other efforts to reduce
crime and disorder by helping the police to better understand and prioritize
community crime issues and to respond accordingly, can be compelling and
convincing to citizens. Better information and stronger partnerships
should result in improved citizen satisfaction with police services
and reduced levels of fear about crime and disorder—the ultimate win-win situation.

Other Community Partnerships

While numerous potential partners exist, one community in
particular that holds much potential are the professionals included
under the umbrella of private security. The private securityprofession
is extremely diverse, covering everything from armored guard services,
to uniformed security, to corporate security departments, to facility
security professionals. They often possess immense technology, skills,
and extensive law enforcement and security experience. Additionally,
by virtue of their unique responsibilities, they can serve as invaluable
partners in the effort to secure communities and public and private assets.
By some estimates, private security provides direct oversight of around
85 percent of the nation’s critical infrastructure. Moreover,
they outnumber their public sector counterparts by nearly 2 ˝ to 1.5
Their access to both street-level knowledge and state-of-the-art security
technology renders them an important—yet largely untapped—community partner.

Conclusion:

A number of specific and tailored federal, state, and local law
enforcement strategies have been developed and refined in the years since 9/11.
Each brings value in very specific ways to an overall community safety and
homeland security strategy. There is value, though, in involving the
community as partners in all crime-prevention efforts, including strategies
related to homeland security. Community policing strategies, and the development
of strong partnerships with the community in particular, offer perhaps the most
promise to ensure that the events of 9/11 are not repeated.

The COPS Office offers a number of resources for anyone who would
like more information on how to develop productive and meaningful
partnerships in support of homeland security efforts.
They include the following:

3 Woolsey, R. James, Testimony before the Select Committee on Homeland Security,
House of Representatives. Information Sharing After September 11: Perspectives on the Future,
June 24, 2004. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005, p. 12.

5National Policy Summit: Building Private
Security/Public Policing Partnerships to Prevent and Respond to Terrorism
and Public Disorder. Washington, D.C.: International Association of Chiefs
of Police and U.S. Department of Justice, COPS Office, 2004, pp. 1–2.